Alcohol babies

Posted
August 04, 2014 14:49:00

One billion dollars. That's the possible price tag for the Northern Territory Government when it comes to foetal alcohol spectrum disorder ... and that's just for the Barkly region. Residents fear FASD is a 'monster waiting to be uncovered'. And a warning: this story includes scenes some viewers may find disturbing.

ALYSSA BETTS, PRESENTER: Alcohol abuse remains a common problem across the Northern Territory but in Tennant Creek, there's increasing awareness about another horror - those born permanently disabled after being exposed to alcohol in the womb. The full extent of foetal alcohol spectrum disorder is yet to be uncovered, but one Barkly health organisation estimates hundreds of people are affected. And a warning - this story includes scenes that some viewers may find disturbing.

ALYSSA BETTS: Another sun sets on the tiny desert town of Tennant Creek, in the heart of the Northern Territory about 12 hours drive south of Darwin. But it's not always this peaceful.Grog's always been a problem for the isolated old mining town, but now a greater understanding of the lifelong affects of alcohol abuse is revealing another horror.

ALYSSA BETTS: Was your partner drinking during pregnancy?

BARKLY RESIDENT: Yes at that time, but now and then, I think, occasionally, but not heavily.

ALYSSA BETTS: Was that something that bothered you or tell us a little bit about it?

BARKLY RESIDENT: Oh it bothered me sometimes but I'd come home and find her influenced, but she's cut back now because the kids are born.

ALYSSA BETTS: In a town of housing shortages, inter-generational poverty and dysfunction, stories of drinking during pregnancy can be matter-of-fact.

ROSSY COLE, HEALTH WORKER: They're coming into town to party and then once the party continues, it goes on for a while, sometimes they drink right up until their due dates.

GEORGINA BRACKEN, TENNANT CREEK WOMEN'S REFUGE MANAGER: We do have domestic violence victims who come to us who are pregnant, at various stages of pregnancy or heavily pregnant, and we know that some of them have been drinking heavily, or have a history of drinking.

LT, ANYINGINYI HEALTH ABORIGINAL CORPORATION: We have a family member whose, you know, we know that she drank all through her pregnancy and the baby is just a classic FASD baby on, right at the extreme end and you know when we first seen the baby and we all looked and said "that's a FASD baby".

GEORGINA BRACKEN, TENNANT CREEK WOMEN'S REFUGE MANAGER: Well we do see some extreme examples - extreme, you know, physical and mental ah manifestations of FASD, but, in my opinion, we're probably just seeing the tip of the iceberg. We're not seeing the less severe examples.

ALYSSA BETTS: The official rates of FASD are not known for Tennant Creek - or anywhere in Australia. There's no agreed way to screen and diagnose FASD and there isn't a consistent definition.

LT, ANYINGINYI HEALTH ABORIGINAL CORPORATION: Alcohol is a big part - I mean we live it, we see it, we breathe it, we eat it, you know, everyday and where there's high levels of alcohol consumption there is FASD so that what, that's, makes me believe that you know, that's a monster waiting to be uncovered I guess.

ALYSSA BETTS: Local Aboriginal health organisation Anyinginyi is one of the Territory's only organisations running dedicated FASD programs to raise awareness. It received one-off funding to create school materials for the Education Department, but says there's no dedicated ongoing government funding for prevention efforts.Anyinginyi did an audit of its client files to try to identify how many FASD affected people there are in the wider Barkly region.

LT, ANYINGINYI HEALTH ABORIGINAL CORPORATION: Up to about 500, we believe, yeah.

ALYSSA BETTS: International studies report people suffering disabilities from prenatal exposure to alcohol are more likely to enter child protection or the justice system.

ALYSSA BETTS: What's the estimated cost, I guess, that a FASD person represents to society?

LT, ANYINGINYI HEALTH ABORIGINAL CORPORATION: Well from studies in the US, through a lifetime of a FASD-affected person, it'd be 2 million dollars so yeah, add that up.

ALYSSA BETTS: Using those calculations, five hundred people in the Barkly region would, over their lifetime, cost taxpayers a billion dollars. Members of the Territory's judiciary have told of their distress in dealing with FASD sufferers in the courts.

SUE OLIVER, MAGISTRATE: Well I suppose I despair about that because I just don't know what the answer is. It's very difficult for a court, a criminal court, dealing with criminal matters to appropriately deal with someone who has a mental age of about eight. I'm seeing increasingly more of those cases and I think we will see more and more of those cases.

ALYSSA BETTS: When 7.30 NT interviewed this Tennant Creek father, he was not in contact with his former partner due to a pending domestic violence case. He believes her drinking during pregnancy and the stress of them living with up to 10 others in a 3-bedroom home in one of Tennant's town camps contributed to their child's birth 26 weeks premature.

ALYSSA BETTS: Why do you think she did occasionally drink?

BARKLY RESIDENT: Probably because of family members, bringing the alcohol back into the house.

ALYSSA BETTS: When family members bring drink into the house, what does that mean - is it hard to avoid?

BARKLY RESIDENT: It's hard to say no, but, like for instance we had a wake the other day, oh about a month ago for my grandma and all the family were sitting around drinking. I said nope, I ain't going to sit here so I went home at eight o'clock, at night.

ALYSSA BETTS: If you don't take part what happens, what's the peer pressure like or what is the result?

BARKLY RESIDENT: Oh people start calling you a pussy, you're a weak-heart, come on have a beer with me, nah.

ALYSSA BETTS: Health worker of 20 years, Rossy Cole, says people are aware of the dangers of drinking while pregnant.

ROSSY COLE, HEALTH WORKER: I think because all the problems in the Aboriginal community at the moment, that I don't know just goes over their head I think - they're not, I don't think a lot of them are very concerned.

ALYSSA BETTS: Is it because there's just so much else going on?

BARKLY RESIDENT: Yeah exactly, I think so, all the other stuff that's going on in their lives.

BARKLY RESIDENT: My mum was a drinker. She'd go to the parks and drinks and didn't come home till late at night. I had to break in and steal food and look after my big brothers and little brothers to put food on the table, back in the late 80s and early 90s.

ALYSSA BETTS: And why would use that example to try and explain to people what?

BARKLY RESIDENT: Because just it was around alcohol. It's a big issue in Tennant Creek - the alcohol issues. You see people lined up at the bottle shops, while sitting across the road waiting for the police to go.

ALYSSA BETTS: So you're not surprised to see even pregnant women drinking?

BARKLY RESIDENT: No. It's been happening, oh, for a while in Tennant.

ALYSSA BETTS: Tennant's Government-appointed Alcohol Reference Group calculates the equivalent of 70-thousand full strength cans is purchased in the town each week. That means at $3.50 a can, Tennant Creek's population of about three-thousand spends nearly $250-thousand dollars a week on alcohol.

BARB SHAW, TENNANT CREEK ALCOHOL REFERENCE GROUP CHAIRWOMAN: There's just a lot of things that's become quite the norm and I think people have used the word before that you come numb to it.

ALYSSA BETTS: Julalikari runs the night patrol and says pick-ups have increased 50 per cent in the past decade, but funding has only kept pace with the rate of inflation. Anyinginyi estimates Tennant already has two to three generations affected by FASD, and there are questions about what supports or future they have.

ALYSSA BETTS: What early intervention is there in Tennant Creek, either in Anyinginyi or elsewhere, when it comes to those who are suspected of being FASD affected?

LT, ANYINGINYI HEALTH ABORIGINAL CORPORATION: Just a referral, referral to the paediatricians or, you know, clinicians that can support that child at the moment, and that family.

ALYSSA BETTS: And where are they, are they easily accessed in Tennant Creek?

LT, ANYINGINYI HEALTH ABORIGINAL CORPORATION: No, no. They, they need to go to a larger centre, like Alice Springs and from Alice Springs could be sent to Adelaide so it's a long, long way and, and very costly.

ROSSY COLE, HEALTH WORKER: I don't think a lot of them have got prospects of ever getting jobs and that because they haven't had the support because, living in remote areas, they need specialist support, you know, and they can't get it out on communities - the nurses and doctors and the specialists that do visit, they do their best but these kids need, you know, intensive support.

ALYSSA BETTS: The Territory Government has now set up a parliamentary inquiry to uncover the size and nature of the FASD problem, but solutions won't come easily. The Attorney-General proposed detaining pregnant women who abuse alcohol, but later backed away from the idea after it sparked a national debate. But in Tennant Creek, some of those faced with the effects of alcohol abuse are supportive of measures that others might consider controversial.

BARKLY RESIDENT: Yeah that's a good solution - it'll get them off the grog, if they could do that, yeah. I'll sign a petition.

ALYSSA BETTS: People say that it's a pretty harsh way of dealing with it, you don't see that as a?

BARKLY RESIDENT: No, well if it's going to stop them from drinking, you got to think about their, what's in their tummy.